Software giant Microsoft has apologised for editing a photo to change a black man’s head to that of a white man.

The picture, showing employees sitting around a desk, appeared unaltered on the firm’s US website.

But on the website of its Polish business unit the black man’s head was replaced with a white face, although the colour of his hands were unchanged.

Microsoft said it had pulled the image and would be investigating who made the changes. It apologised for the gaffe.

The altered image, which also featured an Asian man and a white woman, was quickly circulated online.

Bloggers have had a field day with the story, with some suggesting Microsoft was attempting to please all markets by having a man with both a white face and a black hand.

“The white head and black hand actually symbolise interracial harmony. It is supposed to show that a person can be white and black, old and young at the same time,” said one blogger on the Photoshop Disasters blog.

Others have suggested that the ethnic mix of the Polish population may have played a part in the decision to change the photo.

The formations on this video are mind blowing, I hope to go here some day. For those of you who know me and ask why you would go cave diving, check out this video and all should become clear.. Apologies for the shite music (you know where the volume button is)

Just got back from a short break sailing in Tenerife.. Had a great time, weather was hot (damn hot) and managed to get a couple of days good sailing in.. Obviously had a few beers too 😉 Unfortunately, couldn’t manage to organise any diving.. ahh well – can’t win em all !

I guess sometimes it’s good to remember that most people in the world don’t know (and don’t care) about the semantic differences in many areas of technology. Not knowing the difference between a browser and a search engine is (I guess) a little too subtle for most. I’d also imagine that if carried out in the UK the survey results would be very similar. Although the responses would be something along the lines of “Brawser ? s’google, innit mate ? av it large ‘n all dat”